With four crisp passes by Steven Sheffield late in the first half Saturday, Texas Tech snapped out of its two-week funk. The Red Raiders had lost two in a row and were locked in a tie game with winless New Mexico, but the backup quarterback led four straight scoring  drives to ignite what became a 48-28 blowout at Jones Stadium.

Sheffield wasn’t perfect in relief – throwing three touchdown passes but turning it over twice – but he proved he’s capable of succeeding as a Division I quarterback. And that’s a good thing.

The bad thing, though, is that he was thrown into the fire in the first place. Starter Taylor Potts was knocked out late in the first half after being sacked twice in three plays, and his status for next week’s  Big 12 game against Kansas State is in question.

So is the status of two other injured starters, center Shawn Byrnes and free safety Cody Davis.

Tech managed just fine without them against the lowly Lobos, but the competition is about to get much tougher. Every game the Raiders play from here on out is a conference game, and they’re already 0-1 in league play.

Tech will need those three players to get healthy in a hurry, or hope some others are ready to rise to the occasion. They also would benefit from a certain all-America offensive lineman (Brandon Carter) returning from his indefinite suspension.

I have no idea when Mike Leach plans to reinstate Carter – if he does at all – but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Carter is playing against the Wildcats next week instead of sitting in the stands.